Post-sovereign constitution-making and stages of representation

Abstract

This article builds on Andrew Arato’s paradigm of post-sovereign constitution-making as a multi-stage process bringing together different actors. Drawing on the systemic account of democratic representation, the article makes a twofold contribution. First, through an inquiry into the representative dimension of the multi-stage paradigm, it introduces the idea of a representative continuum: a sequence of different, but connected, actors and activities that form a representative whole across different stages. Second, the article offers reflections upon the place and role that courts may occupy within such continuum.